Game of Thrones, Situation and Burning Wheel

Pedro asked a cool question about Situation and Burning Wheel and a game he’s planning with the Night’s Watch. Nothing brings out my INTERNET OPINIONS like talking about using Burning Wheel to play Song of Ice and Fire.

My response:

So, let’s look at Game of Thrones and situation.

The first book has a doozy. Your best friend, the king, is asking you to run the kingdom for him as the Hand because he’s a shite king and he’s surrounded by his wife’s powerful family.

That drives the whole first book.

With the Night’s Watch, there are plenty of cool situations at hand. In the books, the situation is that the White Walkers are coming and the Night’s Watch is ill-equipped to deal with it.

But let’s make our own.

How about, there is an Iron-born bastard in charge of Seawatch who is making political moves to take hold of the entire watch with plans to turn it into his own personal band of reavers and killers, taking his anger out on Westeros.

No, your starting new recruit cannot solve that problem and that is awesome. It is going on in the background, driving play, making things difficult while he trains and figures out where he stands on this conflict and makes his decisions.

Does that make any sense?

The Situation, isn’t an itch under the character’s doublet, it is a fundamental imbalance in the world that is going to topple things and force the character to make meaningful decisions.

Hope that helps, happy to discuss this more.

 

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Apprentice Rafferty and the Elf-roads

From this BW forum post:

This campaign kind of seamlessly transitions from running away from money-hungry urchins due to a failed Circles test to struggling with mischievous sprites from a failed elf-roads test to learning from a 250 year old elf riddled with grief to trying to stop a baby-eating wicked witch to asking fundamental questions about the foundation of the world and its deities.

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Rafferty and the City of Dreams/City of Thieves/the Dragon’s City

From this BW forum post:

“I am going to be the first arch-mage in a long while. I’m really good and history will remember me but they should be writing about you. You change the world. We’re only here because of your idea about the sausages and Pyre should be thanking you for keeping Lord Harlow alive…we’d have 3 Gates knocking down our walls. I would have left those poor village girls to their fate without you shaming me into it. I’m a good sorcerer but you, Raff, you are going to be great.”

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Raff and the Life & Death Situations

From this AP Thread on the BW Forums:

Rafferty: “If I say the Fire-bringer’s name, he can actually hear it?”

“Yes.”

“Will you teach me his name?”

“No.”

“Is the His name written in one of those books?”

“Yes.”

“Maybe learning to read isn’t as useless as I thought…”

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Apprentice Rafferty and the Raven

From this post on the BW forum:

I’m enjoying having this complex world slowly be unveiled to Alexander as Rafferty learns more and more. In the beginning, Alexander didn’t know if there were elves or orcs or just humans. When Arnesto turned into a bear, Raff thought it was a fucking monster. I like world-building off of this simple, riff, that the king and queen have changed religion, leading to Sorcerers being persecuted. Now this ancient faith celebrating the flame-bringer, who went into heaven and brought back the fire that fuels sorcery is under the knife.
Harlow’s castle is where those of the old faith are gathering to make a stand.

Anyway, I have notes written down, all of the lordly heraldry having to do with fire that I could think of and town names. We have Pyre, the city where the Flame-Bringer first returned from heaven, where the sorcerers have their council and where apprentices are declared proper sorcerers. Tonight we learned about the ancient far-away cities across the sea that accepted the first flames after the Flame-bringer returned from heaven (It might soon be time to draw a map).

In my head I know why the king and queen converted, and what their 3 Gates religion is and why it hates sorcery so much and how it is linked to the elves.

I can’t wait to show it to Alexander through Rafferty, as this two lifepath kid becomes a sorcerer and a man.

I’m enjoying the shit out of this game.

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The Fall of Waterdeep

From this post on the BW Forum:

Part of the fun of playing spiders is naming things. Waterdeep becomes the Great Stone Web or Great Stone Nest. The Sword Coast becomes the Sharp Mineral Coast. Humans are meat. Hobbits are little meat. Lloth is the Matron’s bastard daughter.

The character names change based on what they have achieved. Wolf Hunter to Wizard Hunter to Conquering Wizard Hunter to Handmaiden Dragon’s Heart-eater, Castle-Breaker became Stone Web Breaker and Male’s Terror became Tunnel Maiden for her role in leading the efforts to destroy Waterdeep from its expansive sewer system.

Next time on Githyanki Diaspora, burning Lloth, Broodling -> Wall-Crawler -> Lurker -> Hunter-Seeker -> Handmaiden -> Renegade Handmaiden -> Queen of the Demonweb Pits.

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Catching up with Rafferty

From a thread on the BW forum:

I love how Raff eats with his mouth open at tables filled with lords and ladies, cusses like a country squire whenever he becomes excited and thinks learning to read is a big waste of time. He is beginning to realize that information is important and is learning to listen to rumors and pick up information wherever he can. He’s a nice kid and it is fun to watch his skills and stats slowly grow as he bumbles his way through a complicated mess of a world.

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Back at it with a Handmaiden, an arachnid bounty hunter and a drow prince in the Forgotten Realms

Thread at the BW forums:

I stuck to Versus tests, not touching the more complicated Fight!, DoW or R&C. Even though artha was spent pretty often, the fate artha piles up when you avoid the rim of the Wheel and stick to the hub.

I felt rusty as hell and even though the artha did flow, I felt like I could have prodded those beliefs in more creative ways. Even writing this AP thread felt rusty, as if I wrote down too much info.

All in all, it felt great to be back at the gaming table and it was nice to visit the Realms again, especially with characters who see it as a giant buffet table.

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Gaming ideas rattling around in my head.

Burn the Throne and the Crown

By the people, for the people, dammit.

I’d make up a dozen or so Burning Wheel characters for players to choose from. No noble lifepaths, dammit! No noble bastards with pretty hair looking for revenge. I was thinking of having the only martial characters being a soldier turned farmer, a failed knight and a desperate killer while the rest of the characters are guild leaders, merchants and craftsfolk. Mmmmaybe a failed apprentice sorcerer but maybe not.

The players would craft beliefs about bringing about a revolution that will end the feudal system and links to their personal lives. I don’t want the revolution to be perpetrated by a group of hooded loners with spring-knives on their wrists.

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Dwarving Mining Company

By my beard, axe and anvil, let’s make some money!

Pete had this idea way back for Burning Wheel. I’d like to add a situation to it – word is that the dwarven prince is on the verge of bankruptcy, so any enterprising guilders with money to lend will have a strong pull on the throne.

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School Elections

Soda machine in the cafeteria and O-negative in the nurse’s office.

A few friends were talking about the supernatural-themed novels they were writing and one is loosely based on a Monsterhearts game she played this summer. After posting a link and another FB friend saying that the game looked it cool, it took every ounce of my self-control not to jump on the opportunity with both feet and offer to run a game.

Game fast, I’m not playing RPG’s right now and that is okay.

Naturally, the election season made me think of how much fun it would be to run a high school election in a supernatural drama.

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Those are a few of the rough gaming ideas rattling around in my head.

How about you?

 

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In which Judd fantasizes about how he’d end his game-fast.

Game-fast: in which a gamer stops playing games in order to focus on other pursuits and goals.

In N.Y.C.:

• Solo Houses of the Blooded game with Janaki where she can ride dragons, get into duels, adventure in Puzzle Houses, debate ven policy in the Senate and have sexy romances.
• Sit down with Rob, Jason, Witt, Melissa and Janaki and play Misspent Youth.
• Get together with Bret and run a Ghost Rider Marvel Heroic game where folks who can make it show up and guest star as their favorite Marvel characters.
• In a Wicked Age with Bret, Janaki, and Carly with sangria and mojitos.

In Ithaca:

• I’d show up to Barry’s house in the middle of the night, plop down World of Dungeons and a 1 Page Dungeon in my clipboard and play until the sun comes up or City of Fire and Coin, depending on who is around.
• Sit down with Paula, B.C., Cole and Evan and play Monsterhearts on summer evenings.
• Get my roommates, Anthony, Andrew and Sarah, to the table and make characters around Anthony’s idea of playing an Imperial Engineer in the Warhammer world using Burning Wheel.
• Grab my old Tiefling Rogue/Sorcerer and jump into Jim, Charlotte and Aaron’s 4e game.

Visitors and Such

• City of Fire and Coin with Drew and whoever is in arm’s reach.
• Dust Devils with Samurai with my dad.
• Marvel Heroic’s Civil War with Storn, Pete, Anthony, Andrew and Sarah.

But I won’t. I’m staying on target and keeping those flying monkeys in the sky. And ya know, as much as I want to game it feels good to put it aside and concentrate on what is important. It will make gaming that much more satisfying once it hits the table again.

The job search grind is grinding on me.

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